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The increase in medical litigation cases
Hugh Jboobs
Posts: 15,316 Forum Member
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I have the radio on in my car/office for most of the day. At least once every hour, I hear an advert for a firm of solicitors which essentially encourages people to make a claim against their doctor or dentist. Ambulance chasing, I believe some people call it.
I have a few friends who are dentists. They told me that in the list of countries where as a practising dentist you are most likely to be sued, the UK is second highest. We're even above the USA. (Apparently Israel is the highest).
I know a plastic surgeon in his mid 60s. He's retiring soon and is thoroughly disillusioned with the way medical litigation has gone. As all doctors and dentists do, he has to pay for medical indemnity insurance. The cheapest he can get it for is £30,000 per year. Such is the level of people suing his profession that the indemnity companies don't even bother to defend most of the "smaller" cases. It is actually cheaper and easier for them to simply bung a few grand to the person bringing the case against their client than it is for them to take a case to court and defend it - even in cases where something is easily defensible. He has had personal experience of this a couple of times, where a patient has suffered a recognised complication after the operation which they were verbally warned might be a possibility and also signed a consent form to say they'd been warned - yet the indemnity company, even though they said it was totally defensible, wouldn't take it to court as it was cheaper to simply pay out several thousand pounds.
Obviously, this is what leads to such astronomical indemnity fees as £30,000 per year. When this guy retires, if he wishes to still be insured against future claims against him, he has to pay "run-off". This is for three years - 100% in the first year, slightly reduced in the second year and a slight further reduction in the third year. It's going to cost him the best part of £75,000 to retire.
Now obviously, people should have the right to seek compensation when they have genuinely received poor care at the hands of a medical professional. That is beyond question. But I personally think it's gone way too far. I think that solictors advertising in this way is disgusting and unethical. And it's awful that the system is geared up in such a way that in a lot of cases it is cheaper and easier to simply pay someone off than to take it to court and defend it.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think it's right that this country is heading this way? Do you think it's ethical for a firm of solicitors to encourage people to sue their doctor/dentist through a radio or television advert? Or are you all for the idea of people being able to sue their doctor/dentist at the drop of a hat?
I have a few friends who are dentists. They told me that in the list of countries where as a practising dentist you are most likely to be sued, the UK is second highest. We're even above the USA. (Apparently Israel is the highest).
I know a plastic surgeon in his mid 60s. He's retiring soon and is thoroughly disillusioned with the way medical litigation has gone. As all doctors and dentists do, he has to pay for medical indemnity insurance. The cheapest he can get it for is £30,000 per year. Such is the level of people suing his profession that the indemnity companies don't even bother to defend most of the "smaller" cases. It is actually cheaper and easier for them to simply bung a few grand to the person bringing the case against their client than it is for them to take a case to court and defend it - even in cases where something is easily defensible. He has had personal experience of this a couple of times, where a patient has suffered a recognised complication after the operation which they were verbally warned might be a possibility and also signed a consent form to say they'd been warned - yet the indemnity company, even though they said it was totally defensible, wouldn't take it to court as it was cheaper to simply pay out several thousand pounds.
Obviously, this is what leads to such astronomical indemnity fees as £30,000 per year. When this guy retires, if he wishes to still be insured against future claims against him, he has to pay "run-off". This is for three years - 100% in the first year, slightly reduced in the second year and a slight further reduction in the third year. It's going to cost him the best part of £75,000 to retire.
Now obviously, people should have the right to seek compensation when they have genuinely received poor care at the hands of a medical professional. That is beyond question. But I personally think it's gone way too far. I think that solictors advertising in this way is disgusting and unethical. And it's awful that the system is geared up in such a way that in a lot of cases it is cheaper and easier to simply pay someone off than to take it to court and defend it.
What are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think it's right that this country is heading this way? Do you think it's ethical for a firm of solicitors to encourage people to sue their doctor/dentist through a radio or television advert? Or are you all for the idea of people being able to sue their doctor/dentist at the drop of a hat?
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Comments
Be it nursing, medical or other
It's important people who are crap at their jobs don't proceed and ruin lots of lives.
Just go to the nursing or medical registration sites you can see all the cases of people struck off
I so advocate recognising excellent practice and make a point of doing so.
Its easy money for blood sucking solicitors and will only get worse, look at this madness in Australia :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-27881476
I work in a GP surgery and have done for nearly 5 years. When I first stsrted we'd get 1 or 2 reuests for medicak records a month from solicitors acting on behalf of someone suing for accidents or injuries. Now thats up to 3 or 4 a week of oeople suing for every little trip and scrape, and half the time there's nothing on their records about the incident because it didn't warrant any sort of medical attention.